


Name

by Beth Harker (Beth_Harker)



Category: Newsies (1992)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-26
Updated: 2013-04-26
Packaged: 2019-09-27 21:08:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17169428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beth_Harker/pseuds/Beth%20Harker
Summary: David takes it personally when someone spells his name wrong.





	Name

“Hey! You alright?” 

David took half a step back as Jack came bounding up to him, trying to get a better view of his friend’s concerned face in the waning light. 

“Yeah…” he answered slowly, the word coming out like a question. “I’m fine.” 

Jack gave him a quick nod. He was close enough that David could smell his breath, which came out of his mouth in white puffs. 

“Is something supposed to be wrong with me?” David asked, because nothing aside from normal school stuff was.

Jack was scrutinizing David every bit as much as David was scrutinizing Jack. 

“The note…” Jack said. “The one telling you to meet us around 6:00. Didja get it?” 

“Were you the one who wrote it?” David asked. His hand went reflexively to his pocket where there note was folded up neatly. He frowned. 

“Nah. Dutchy was in the area, so… What’s up?” 

Something inside David unclenched just a little bit at the mention of Dutchy’s name. He took out the note and handed it over to Jack, who gave it a quick read over. He looked back up at David, with a pointed shrug. 

“Well…?” David prompted.

“Well?”

“Don’t you notice anything wrong with the note?” David asked. Jack just shook his head, so David pointed to the first line. Hay bdbddayvid, it read. 

“There ain’t anything wrong with the note,” Jack said. His tone made David’s stomach uncomfortable in a way that was very familiar, but which he’d hardly ever associated with Jack.

“He spelled my name wrong,” David explained. “It’s only five letters.”

“So? He don’t spell so great.”

“It’s not difficult to spell,” David said. Jack looked ready to chew him out, so David continued speaking rapidly. “It’s phonetic, more or less.” 

At the word phonetic Jack blinked, or maybe he winced. His mouth closed tightly for a second. David had an unsettling feeling that his expression was probably a mirror of Jack’s.

“Got it. You decided to be late ‘cause anybody who don’t sit in a classroom all day learning to spell five letter words ain’t worth your time. That it?”

“That isn’t it,” David said quickly, worrying even as the words exited his mouth that maybe it was. Jack rolled his eyes at him, and David’s worry became something akin to fear or self-loathing, because maybe Jack really was right. 

“Then what is it, Dave? Was you planning on showing up at all?” 

“I was planning on showing up,” David answered carefully. “I wasn’t sure at first. I was angry when I got the note… before I even got it, to be honest. About other things.”

David put his hands in his pockets. Jack watched him appraisingly. 

“It’s alright, since you didn’t write it,” David said finally. “Dutchy just isn’t good at spelling. I should have arrived on time. I was being petty.”

“’Cause Dutchy’s allowed to misspell stuff but I ain’t?”

David shook his head. “Just not my name.” Jack still looked exasperated and confused, so David figured he’d have to explain himself better: “You and I are different than Dutchy and I.” Somehow the words made David feel better, and made him feel a little bit like he was drowning, all at the same time. They were true at least. He liked to think that he was important to Jack, somehow, but he wasn’t sure how to go about explaining that to Jack, at least beyond what he’d just said. 

Jack sighed, and shook his head. It was hard to tell in the darkness, but David felt like something had softened in his expression. David went still, as Jack placed his hands on either side of his temple, and his breath caught for an instant. David wondered what Jack was going to do. Jack gave David’s head a quick shake like he was trying to knock out whatever was in there telling him to act like a stuck-up idiot, and then let his hands fall away, leaving David to wonder further why exactly he felt disappointed. 

“Let’s go,” Jack said. “The others is waiting for us.”

He slung his arm over David’s shoulders, as he so often had, saying as they went, “I don’t know what they’re teaching you in that school, but whatever it is, you’re smart enough to know better, got it?”


End file.
